Government getting its cut at the gas pump, but what do we get?

RALPH DE LA CRUZ COLUMNIST

May 13, 2008|RALPH DE LA CRUZ COLUMNIST

When you're emptying your wallet at the pump in Palm Beach or Broward counties sometime in the next few days, don't dwell on $4. Think of the number 18.4.

That's how many cents per gallon go to the county. Palm Beach and Broward are among 18 of Florida's 67 counties with the highest local gasoline tax rate in the state. By comparison, the local rate in Miami-Dade is two cents less.

The local tax for Broward and Palm Beach is higher than the 15.6-cent state tax, and equal to the federal government's cut.

Yet, while much has been made of proposals by presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and John McCain to give drivers some financial relief by suspending the federal tax, no one seems to talk much about local gas taxes.

Which doesn't make sense. After all, there are advantages to the federal tax: It lowers overall demand for oil and brings in big bucks for neat little things like bridges and the interstate highway system.

That's why American Automobile Association spokesman Gregg Laskoski says, "We do not support suspending the collection of the gas tax."

Of course not. The federal tax works because of the economy of scale.

Now, I'm not one of those people like Clinton or McCain who believes we need to drop the tax on gasoline. I'm actually an advocate for a higher federal gas tax.

Since 1993 - for 15 years - there hasn't been any increase in the federal gas tax. And what happened? The sale of gas-sucking SUV behemoths became all the rage. Nobody, including automakers, worried about fuel efficiency.

So now we're paying $4 a gallon and oil company profits are breaking records every quarter.

Maybe if we had stuck with small, incremental gas tax increases every three or four years, we wouldn't be in our second war in the Middle East.

With gas at almost $4 a gallon, this year Americans are using 190,000 fewer barrels of oil every day. Think what would've happened if, rather than letting oil companies and speculators send the price skyrocketing, the government had carefully managed the run-up.

Maybe then the president wouldn't have to go on bent knee to Saudi Arabia, pleading for increased production. AND with the extra money, perhaps our interstate system wouldn't be falling apart.

Unfortunately, we don't get those types of benefits from local gas taxes, which are generally used for local transit.

In fact, according to gaspricewatch.com, most states do not even have local gas taxes. The only others who use them, besides Florida, are California, Hawaii, Nevada and Alabama. New York and parts of Virginia have county taxes based on a percentage of sales.

Florida actually requires a minimum local gas tax of 10.3 cents (only one county - Franklin - is at the minimum).

The reason we're in this mess is that our politics are always about quick fixes. And we've got to wean ourselves off that addiction as much as we need to wean ourselves off cheap gas.

If we're going to have local gas taxes, fine. But dedicate it solely for mass transit and alternate energy.

"Yesterday, we had the second-highest ridership we've ever had: 15,861," Tri-Rail marketing director Bonnie Arnold said Friday. "The last two months we've consistently had more than 15,000 riders every day."

In April, Tri-Rail had an increase of 28.4 percent over April 2007. Yet, state politicians are cutting its budget.

If only we could tax stupidity.

Ralph De La Cruz can be reached at rdelacruz@sun-sentinel.com or 954-356-4727 and 561-243-6522. Read his blog at Sun-Sentinel.com/ralphblog.